Device for participating in a network for sharing media consumption activity

ABSTRACT

A device and server for participating in a network for sharing media consumption activity is disclosed. For example, the device receives information identifying a media item as a result of playing the media item on a second user device associated with a friend of the plurality of friends and the friend of a plurality of friends. The device presents information identifying the media item selected for play on the second user device and the friend associated with the second user device and identifying a plurality of other media items and a subset of the plurality of friends. The device obtains a selection of a second media item for play, the second media item, and initiates play of the media item. The device provides, as a result of playing the second media item, information identifying the second media item and the user for sharing with the plurality of friends of the user.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of co-pending U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/693,785, filed Dec. 4, 2012, entitled GRAPHICAL USERINTERFACE SYSTEM FOR ALLOWING MANAGEMENT OF A MEDIA ITEM PLAYLIST BASEDON A PREFERENCE SCORING SYSTEM, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/750,002, filed May 17, 2007, entitled GRAPHICALUSER INTERFACE SYSTEM FOR ALLOWING MANAGEMENT OF A MEDIA ITEM PLAYLISTBASED ON A PREFERENCE SCORING SYSTEM, which is a continuation-in-partpatent application of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/484,130, filed Jul.11, 2006, entitled P2P NETWORK FOR PROVIDING REAL TIME MEDIARECOMMENDATIONS, all of which are incorporated herein by reference intheir entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to graphical user interfaces (GUIs) andrelated systems provided on a peer device in a network, such as apeer-to-peer network, to allow a user to define user preferences and/ordevelop a user profile. The preferences and profile are used to filtermedia item recommendations received by the peer device, score the mediaitem recommendations according to the user preferences and/or userprofile, and allow management of a media item playlist on the peerdevice based on media item scoring.

BACKGROUND

In recent years, there has been an enormous increase in the amount ofdigital media, such as music, available online. Services such as Apple'siTunes enable users to legally purchase and download music. Otherservices such as Yahoo! Music Unlimited and RealNetwork's Rhapsodyprovide access to millions of songs for a monthly subscription fee. As aresult, music has become much more accessible to listeners worldwide. Inthis regard, graphical user interfaces are often provided to userdevices to allow the user to retrieve, navigate and otherwise managetheir media collection. However, the increased accessibility of musichas only heightened a long-standing problem for the music industry,which is namely the issue of linking audiophiles with new music thatmatches their listening preferences.

Many companies, technologies, and approaches have emerged to addressthis issue of music recommendation. Some companies have taken ananalytical approach. They review various attributes of a song, such asmelody, harmony, lyrics, orchestration, vocal character, and the like,and assign a rating to each attribute. The ratings for each attributeare then assembled to create a holistic classification for the song thatis then used by a recommendation engine. The recommendation enginetypically requires that the user first identify a song that he or shelikes. The recommendation engine then suggests other songs with similarattributions. Companies using this type of approach include Pandora(pandora.com), SoundFlavor (soundflavor.com), MusicIP (musicip.com), andMongoMusic (purchased by Microsoft in 2000).

Other companies take a communal approach. They make recommendationsbased on the collective wisdom of a group of users with similar musicaltastes. These solutions first profile the listening habits of aparticular user and then search similar profiles of other users todetermine recommendations. Profiles are generally created in a varietyof ways such as looking at a user's complete collection, the playcountsof their songs, their favorite playlists, and the like. Companies usingthis technology include Last.fm (last.fm), Music Strands(musicstrands.com), WebJay (webjay.org), Mercora (mercora.com),betterPropaganda (betterpropaganda.com), Loomia (loomia.com), eMusic(emusic.com), musicmatch (mmguide.musicmatch.com), genielab(genielab.com/), upto11 (upto11.net/), Napster (napster.com), and iTunes(itunes.com) with its celebrity playlists.

The problem with these traditional recommendation systems is that theyfail to consider peer influences. For example, the media items that aparticular teenager listens to and/or views may be highly influenced bythe media items listened to or viewed by a group of the teenager'speers, such as his or her friends. Media item recommendations from auser's peers may be provided through a social network, such as, forexample, a peer-to-peer network.

Similar to a company generating media item recommendations based on auser's profile, a user may desire to filter peer media itemrecommendations received by his or her peer device based on the user'spreferences and profile. However, to effectively filter peer media itemrecommendations, the user has to provide information to the peer devicefrom which user preferences may be determined and a user profile may bedeveloped. In addition, the user may desire the ability to control themanner in which his or her preferences and profile are applied to thepeer media item recommendations, and, generally, to manage the peermedia item recommendations on the peer device.

Further, even though media item recommendations can be provided as aneffective tool to target media items sent to a user, such as in apeer-to-peer network, the user may not desire to listen to or view allof the peer recommendations received by the user's peer device. The usermust navigate through his or her media item collection on a graphicaluser interface to select media items of interest. The user's mediacollection, which may consist of user directed selections and receivedmedia item selections, may contain hundreds if not thousands of mediaitems to navigate.

Thus, there exists a need to provide a mechanism to allow a user at apeer device to effectively provide user preferences and profileinformation used to generate media item recommendations as well as asystem and method to allow a user to more effectively navigate amongmedia item recommendations among a vast media collection.

SUMMARY

The present invention provides a system and a user device forparticipating in a network for sharing media consumption activity. In anembodiment, the device comprises a processor and a control systemcomponent associated with the processor. The control system is adaptedto receive information identifying a media item and a friend of aplurality of friends, wherein the information is provided as a result ofplaying the media item on a second user device associated with thefriend of the plurality of friends. The control system is furtheradapted to present information comprising information identifying themedia item selected for play on the second user device and the friendassociated with the second user device and information identifying aplurality of other media items and a subset of the plurality of friends,wherein play of the other media items was initiated on a correspondingplurality of other user devices associated with the subset of theplurality of friends. The control system is further adapted to; obtain aselection of a second media item for play; obtain the second media item;and initiate play of the second media item. The control system isfurther adapted to provide, as a result of playing the second mediaitem, information identifying the second media item and the user forsharing with the plurality of friends of the user.

In an embodiment, a user device comprises a processor and a controlsystem component associated with the processor. The control system isadapted to receive information identifying a media item and a friend ofa plurality of friends, wherein the information is provided as a resultof playing the media item on a second user device associated with thefriend of the plurality of friends. The control system is furtheradapted to present information comprising information identifying themedia item selected for play on the second user device and the friendassociated with the second user device and information identifying aplurality of other media items and a subset of the plurality of friends,wherein play of the other media items was initiated on a correspondingplurality of other user devices associated with the subset of theplurality of friends. The control system is further adapted to: obtainthe media item from a remote source and initiate play of the media item.The control system is further adapted to provide, as a result of playingthe media item, information identifying the media item and the user forsharing with the plurality of friends of the user.

In an embodiment, a user device comprises a processor and a controlsystem component associated with the processor. The control system isadapted to receive information identifying a media item and a friend ofa plurality of friends, wherein the information is provided in responseto playing the media item on a second user device associated with thefriend of the plurality of friends. The control system is furtheradapted to present information identifying the media item selected forplay on the second user device and the friend associated with the seconduser device. The control system is further adapted to displayinformation identifying a plurality of other media items. The controlsystem is further adapted to display information identifying a source ofeach of the plurality of other media items. The control system isfurther adapted to initiate play of the media item. The control systemis further adapted to provide, in response to playing the media item,information identifying the media item and the user for sharing with theplurality of friends of the user.

In an embodiment, a user device comprises a processor and a controlsystem component associated with the processor. The control system isadapted to receive information identifying a media item and a friend ofa plurality of friends, wherein the information is provided as a resultof playing the media item on a second user device associated with thefriend of the plurality of friends. The control system is furtheradapted to automatically add the media item to a pre-existing list ofmedia items, to provide an updated list of media items. The controlsystem is further adapted to present information derived from theupdated list of media items comprising information identifying the mediaitem selected for play on the second user device and the friendassociated with the second user device and information identifying aplurality of other media items and a subset of the plurality of friends,wherein play of the other media items was initiated on a correspondingplurality of other user devices associated with the subset of theplurality of friends. The pre-existing list of media items is a list ofmedia items existing prior to receiving the information identifying amedia item and a friend of the plurality of friends, wherein theinformation is provided as a result of playing the media item on asecond user device associated with the friend of the plurality offriends.

In an embodiment, a user device comprises a processor and a controlsystem component associated with the processor. The control system isfurther adapted to receive information identifying a media item, afriend of a plurality of friends, and a timestamp, wherein theinformation is provided as a result of the media item having been playedat a time of play indicated by the timestamp on a second user deviceassociated with the friend of the plurality of friends. The controlsystem is further adapted to present information comprising informationidentifying the media item selected for play on the second user device,the friend associated with the second user device, and informationindicating the time of play of the media item and informationidentifying a plurality of other media items and a subset of theplurality of friends wherein play of the other media items was initiatedon a corresponding plurality of other user devices associated with thesubset of the plurality of friends, and wherein at least one of theplurality of other media items is displayed with information indicatingan other time of play derived from a timestamp of the at least one ofthe plurality of other media items at a corresponding other user device.

In an embodiment a system for distributing music comprises a user deviceand a server. The user device is adapted to. obtain informationidentifying a user associated with the user device; obtain informationidentifying a plurality of friends of the user based on the informationidentifying the user; receive information identifying a media item and afriend of the plurality of friends, wherein the information is providedin response to playing the media item on a second user device associatedwith the friend of the plurality of friends; present informationcomprising information identifying the media item selected for play onthe second user device and the friend associated with the second userdevice and information identifying a plurality of other media items anda subset of the plurality of friends, wherein play of the other mediaitems was initiated on a corresponding plurality of other user devicesassociated with the subset of the plurality of friends; obtain aselection of a second media item for play; request the second media itemfrom a server; and provide in response to playing the second media item,information identifying the second media item and the user for sharingwith the plurality of friends of the user. The server is adapted to:provide a subscription based music service to the user device and thesecond user device; facilitate communication between the user device andthe second user device; and provide the second media item to the userdevice in response to receiving the request.

In an embodiment, a user device comprises a processor and a controlsystem component associated with the processor. The control system isadapted to receive information identifying: a plurality of media items;times at which the plurality of media items were played at user devicesof friends of a plurality of friends; and users of a plurality of userdevices at which the plurality of media items were played. The controlsystem is further adapted to for ones of the plurality of media items,display by the user device, information identifying: the media item; thetime at which the media item was played at the user devices of thefriends of the plurality of friends; the user of the plurality of userdevices at which the media item was played; and a source of the mediaitem.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate the scope of the presentinvention and realize additional aspects thereof after reading thefollowing detailed description of the preferred embodiments inassociation with the accompanying drawing figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

The accompanying drawing figures incorporated in and forming a part ofthis specification illustrate several aspects of the invention, andtogether with the description serve to explain the principles of theinvention.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system incorporating a peer-to-peer (P2P) networkfor real time media recommendations according to one embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating the operation of the peer devices ofFIG. 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates the operation of the system of FIG. 1 according toone embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates a system incorporating a P2P network for real timemedia recommendations according to a second embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 5 illustrates the operation of the system of FIG. 4 according toone embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a method for automatically selectingmedia to play based on recommendations from peer devices and userpreferences according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary graphical user interface (GUI) forconfiguring user preferences according to one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary GUI for assigning weights to variouscategories of media content as part of configuring the user preferencesaccording to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary GUI for assigning weights to individualusers within a user category as part of configuring the user preferencesaccording to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary GUI for assigning weights to individualgenres from a genre category as part of configuring the user preferencesaccording to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 illustrates an exemplary GUI for assigning weights to individualdecades from a decade category as part of configuring the userpreferences according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 illustrates an exemplary GUI for assigning weights to individualavailability types from an availability type category as part ofconfiguring the user preferences according to one embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 13 illustrates an exemplary GUI displaying a playlist includingboth songs from a local music collection of a peer device andrecommended songs from other peer devices, where the songs are sorted bya score determined based on user preferences according to one embodimentof the present invention;

FIG. 14 illustrates an exemplary GUI displaying a playlist includingboth songs from a local music collection of a peer device andrecommended songs from other peer devices, where the songs are sorted bya both genre and score according to one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 15 illustrates an exemplary GUI for selecting the maximum number ofmedia items in a recommendation queue according to one embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 16 illustrates an exemplary GUI for providing user-definedthresholds for a media item download queue according to one embodimentof the present invention;

FIG. 17 is a block diagram of a peer device of FIG. 1 according to oneembodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 18 is a block diagram of a peer device of FIG. 4 according to oneembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The embodiments set forth below represent the necessary information toenable those skilled in the art to practice the invention and illustratethe best mode of practicing the invention. Upon reading the followingdescription in light of the accompanying drawing figures, those skilledin the art will understand the concepts of the invention and willrecognize applications of these concepts not particularly addressedherein. It should be understood that these concepts and applicationsfall within the scope of the disclosure and the accompanying claims.

In an embodiment, the present invention provides graphical userinterfaces (GUIs) and related systems for a peer device to provide userpreferences and profile information used to filter media itemrecommendations. The GUIs also allow a user to navigate through and sorthis or her media item collection containing such media itemrecommendations based on a preference scoring system generated as aresult of the user preferences and profile selections made by the user.In this manner, the peer device may be contained within a peer-to-peer(P2P) network. A client application executing on the peer deviceprovides and enables the GUIs. One or more GUIs enable the user toprovide information to weight various media item categories andattributes within the media item categories. The user provided weightinginformation is used to configure the user preferences.

Another of the GUIs may display a media item playlist containing apreference scoring column to allow the user to display and sort mediarecommendations on the GUI by preference score. The media item playlistGUI also displays a list of the users subscribing to the P2P network,the title of and information concerning media items recommended by theusers, and media items stored locally on the peer device, and otherrelated information. The score may be determined by applying preferencesdefined by information provided by the user of the peer device via theone or more GUIs provided by the embodiment of the present invention.

Before discussing the particular GUI systems provided as part of theembodiment of the present invention to enable a user to definepreferences, a user profile, and display and sort media items bypreference scoring, a discussion of a P2P system and network that allowsthe user to obtain media item recommendations is first discussed.Examples of the GUIs 42, 50, 92, 100, 118, 132, 142, 184, and 187 areillustrated in FIGS. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16,respectively, and described in more detail later in this application.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system 10 incorporating a P2P network for providingreal time song recommendations according to one embodiment of thepresent invention. Note that while the discussion herein focuses on songrecommendations for clarity and ease of discussion, the presentinvention is equally applicable to providing recommendations for othertypes of media presentations such as video presentations, as will beapparent to one of ordinary skill in the art upon reading thisdisclosure. Exemplary video presentations are movies, televisionprograms, and the like. In general, the system 10 includes a number ofpeer devices 12-16 which are optionally connected to a subscriptionmusic service 18 via a network 20, which may be a distributed publicnetwork such as, but not limited to, the Internet. Note that while threepeer devices 12-16 are illustrated, the present invention may be usedwith any number of two or more peer devices.

In this embodiment, the peer devices 12-16 are preferably portabledevices such as, but not limited to, portable audio players, mobiletelephones, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), or the like having audioplayback capabilities. However, the peer devices 12-16 may alternativelybe stationary devices such as a personal computer or the like. The peerdevices 12-16 include local wireless communication interfaces (FIG. 15)communicatively coupling the peer devices 12-16 to form a peer-to-peer(P2P) network. The wireless communication interfaces may providewireless communication according to, for example, one of the suite ofIEEE 802.11 standards, the Bluetooth standard, or the like.

The peer device 12 includes a music player 22, a recommendation engine24, and a music collection 26. The music player 22 may be implemented insoftware, hardware, or a combination of hardware and software. Ingeneral, the music player 22 operates to play songs from the musiccollection 26. The recommendation engine 24 may be implemented insoftware, hardware, or a combination of hardware and software. Therecommendation engine 24 may alternatively be incorporated into themusic player 22. The music collection 26 includes any number of songfiles stored in one or more digital storage units such as, for example,one or more hard-disc drives, one or more memory cards, internalRandom-Access Memory (RAM), one or more associated external digitalstorage devices, or the like.

In operation, each time a song is played by the music player 22, therecommendation engine 24 operates to provide a recommendationidentifying the song to the other peer devices 14, 16 via the P2Pnetwork. The recommendation does not include the song. In oneembodiment, the recommendation may be a recommendation file includinginformation identifying the song. In addition, as discussed below indetail, the recommendation engine 24 operates to programmatically, orautomatically, select a next song to be played by the music player 22based on the recommendations received from the other peer device 14, 16identifying songs recently played by the other peer devices 14, 16 anduser preferences associated with the user of the peer device 12.

Like the peer device 12, the peer device 14 includes a music player 28,a recommendation engine 30, and a music collection 32, and the peerdevice 16 includes a music player 34, a recommendation engine 36, and amusic collection 38.

The subscription music service 18 may be a service hosted by a serverconnected to the network 20. Exemplary subscription based music servicesthat may be modified to operate according to the present invention areYahoo! Music Unlimited digital music service and RealNetwork's Rhapsodydigital music service.

FIG. 2 illustrates the operation of the peer device 12 according to oneembodiment of the present invention. However, the following discussionis equally applicable to the other peer devices 14, 16. First, the peerdevices 12-16 cooperate to establish a P2P network (step 200). The P2Pnetwork may be initiated using, for example, an electronic or verbalinvitation. Invitations may be desirable when the user wishes toestablish the P2P network with a particular group of other users, suchas his or her friends. Note that this may be beneficial when the userdesires that the music he or she listens to be influenced only by thesongs listened to by, for example, the user's friends. Invitations mayalso be desirable when the number of peer devices within a localwireless coverage area of the peer device 12 is large. As anotherexample, the peer device 12 may maintain a “buddy list” identifyingfriends of the user of the peer device 12, where the peer device 12 mayautomatically establish a P2P network with the peer devices of the usersidentified by the “buddy list” when the peer devices are within a localwireless coverage area of the peer device 12.

Alternatively, the peer device 12 may establish an ad-hoc P2P networkwith the other peer devices 14, 16 by detecting the other peer devices14, 16 within the local wireless coverage area of the peer device 12 andautomatically establishing the P2P network with at least a subset of thedetected peer devices 14, 16. In order to control the number of peerdevices within the ad-hoc P2P network, the peer device 12 may compareuser profiles of the users of the other peer devices 14, 16 with a userprofile of the user of the peer device 12 and determine whether topermit the other peer devices 14, 16 to enter the P2P network based onthe similarities of the user profiles.

At some point after the P2P network is established, the peer device 12plays a song (step 202). Initially, before any recommendations have beenreceived from the other peer devices 14, 16, the song may be a song fromthe music collection 26 selected by the user of the peer device 12.Prior to, during, or after playback of the song, the recommendationengine 24 sends a recommendation identifying the song to the other peerdevices 14, 16 (step 204). The recommendation may include, but is notlimited to, information identifying the song such as a Globally UniqueIdentifier (GUID) for the song, title of the song, or the like; aUniform Resource Locator (URL) enabling other peer devices to obtain thesong such as a URL enabling download or streaming of the song from thesubscription music service 18 or a URL enabling purchase and download ofthe song from an e-commerce service; a URL enabling download orstreaming of a preview of the song from the subscription music service18 or a similar e-commerce service; metadata describing the song such asID3 tags including, for example, genre, the title of the song, theartist of the song, the album on which the song can be found, the dateof release of the song or album, the lyrics, and the like.

The recommendation may also include a list of recommenders includinginformation identifying each user having previously recommended the songand a timestamp for each recommendation. For example, if the song wasoriginally played at the peer device 14 and then played at the peerdevice 16 in response to a recommendation from the peer device 14, thelist of recommenders may include information identifying the user of thepeer device 14 or the peer device 14 and a timestamp identifying a timeat which the song was played or recommended by the peer device 14, andinformation identifying the user of the peer device 16 or the peerdevice 16 and a timestamp identifying a time at which the song wasplayed or recommended by the peer device 16. Likewise, if the peerdevice 12 then selects the song for playback, information identifyingthe user of the peer device 12 or the peer device 12 and a correspondingtimestamp may be appended to the list of recommenders.

The peer device 12, and more specifically the recommendation engine 24,also receives recommendations from the other peer devices 14, 16 (step206). The recommendations from the other peer devices 14, 16 identifysongs played by the other peer devices 14, 16. Optionally, therecommendation engine 24 may filter the recommendations from the otherpeer devices 14, 16 based on, for example, user, genre, artist, title,album, lyrics, date of release, or the like (step 208).

The recommendation engine 24 then automatically selects a next song toplay from the songs identified by the recommendations received from theother peer devices 14, 16, optionally songs identified by previouslyreceived recommendations, and one or more songs from the musiccollection 26 based on user preferences (step 210). In one embodiment,the recommendation engine 24 considers only those songs identified byrecommendations received since a previous song selection. For example,if the song played in step 202 was a song selected by the recommendationengine 24 based on prior recommendations from the peer devices 14, 16,the recommendation engine 24 may only consider the songs identified innew recommendations received after the song was selected for playback instep 202 and may not consider the songs identified in the priorrecommendations. This may be beneficial if the complexity of therecommendation engine 24 is desired to be minimal such as when the peerdevice 12 is a mobile terminal or the like having limited processing andmemory capabilities. In another embodiment, the recommendation engine 24may consider all previously received recommendations, where therecommendations may expire after a predetermined or user defined periodof time.

As discussed below, the user preferences used to select the next song toplay may include a weight or priority assigned to each of a number ofcategories such as user, genre, decade of release, and availability.Generally, availability identifies whether songs are stored locally inthe music collection 26; available via the subscription music service18; available for download, and optionally purchase, from an e-commerceservice or one of the other peer devices 14, 16; or are not currentlyavailable where the user may search for the songs if desired. The userpreferences may be stored locally at the peer device 12 or obtained froma central server via the network 20. If the peer device 12 is a portabledevice, the user preferences may be configured on an associated usersystem, such as a personal computer, and transferred to the peer device12 during a synchronization process. The user preferences mayalternatively be automatically provided or suggested by therecommendation engine 24 based on a play history of the peer device 12.In the preferred embodiment discussed below, the songs identified by therecommendations from the other peer devices 14, 16 and the songs fromthe music collection 26 are scored or ranked based on the userpreferences. Then, based on the scores, the recommendation engine 24selects the next song to play.

Once the next song to play is selected, the peer device 12 obtains theselected song (step 212). If the selected song is part of the musiccollection 26, the peer device 12 obtains the selected song from themusic collection 26. If the selected song is not part of the musiccollection 26, the recommendation engine 24 obtains the selected songfrom the subscription music service 18, an e-commerce service, or one ofthe other peer devices 14, 16. For example, the recommendation for thesong may include a URL providing a link to a source from which the songmay be obtained, and the peer device 12 may obtain the selected songfrom the source identified in the recommendation for the song. Onceobtained, the selected song is played and the process repeats (steps202-212).

FIG. 3 illustrates the operation of the peer devices 12-16 to providereal time song recommendations according to one embodiment of thepresent invention. The illustrated process is the same as discussedabove with respect to FIG. 2. As such, the details will not be repeated.In general, the peer devices 14, 16 play songs and, in response, providesong recommendations to the peer device 12 (steps 300-306). The peerdevice 12 may optionally filter the recommendations from the peerdevices 14, 16 (step 308). The recommendation engine 24 of the peerdevice 12 then automatically selects the next song to play from thesongs identified by the recommendations, optionally songs identified byprior recommendations from the peer devices 14, 16, and locally storedsongs from the music collection 26 based on user preferences of the userof the peer device 12 (step 310). The peer device 12 then obtains andplays the selected song (steps 312-314). Either prior to, during, orafter playback of the selected song, the recommendation engine 24 of thepeer device 12 provides a recommendation identifying the selected songto the other peer devices 14, 16 (step 316-318).

FIG. 4 illustrates the system 10′ according to second embodiment of thepresent invention. In this embodiment, the peer devices 12′-16′ form aP2P network via the network 20 and a proxy server 40. The peer devices12′-16′ may be any device having a connection to the network 20 andaudio playback capabilities. For example, the peer devices 12′-16′ maybe personal computers, laptop computers, mobile telephones, portableaudio players, PDAs, or the like having either a wired or wirelessconnection to the network 20. As discussed above with respect to thepeer device 12, the peer device 12′ includes music player 22′, arecommendation engine 24′, and a music collection 26′. Likewise, thepeer device 14′ includes a music player 28′, a recommendation engine30′, and a music collection 32′, and the peer device 16′ includes amusic player 34′, a recommendation engine 36′, and a music collection38.

FIG. 5 illustrates the operation of the system 10′ of FIG. 4. Prior tobeginning the process, the peer devices 12′-16′ form a P2P network.Since the number of peer devices 12′-16′ that may be connected to thenetwork 20 may be very large, the peer devices 12′-16′ may implementsome technique for identifying a desired group of peer devices for theP2P network. For example, the P2P network may be initiated using, forexample, an electronic or verbal invitation. As another example, thepeer device 12′ may maintain a “buddy list” identifying friends of theuser of the peer device 12′, where the peer device 12′ may automaticallyestablish a P2P network with the peer devices of the users identified bythe “buddy list” when the peer devices are connected to the network 20.Alternatively, the peer devices 12′-16′ may form an ad-hoc network wherethe participants for the ad-hoc network are selected based onsimilarities in user profiles.

In this example, once the P2P network is established, the peer device14′ plays a song and, in response, provides a song recommendationidentifying the song to the peer device 12′ via the proxy server 40(steps 400-404). While not illustrated for clarity, the peer device 14′also sends the recommendation for the song to the peer device 16′ viathe proxy server 40. The peer device 16′ also plays a song and sends asong recommendation to the peer device 12′ via the proxy server 40(steps 406-410). Again, while not illustrated for clarity, the peerdevice 16′ also sends the recommendation for the song to the peer device14′ via the proxy server 40.

From this point, the process continues as discussed above. Morespecifically, the recommendation engine 24′ may optionally filter therecommendations from the other peer devices 14′, 16′ based on, forexample, user, genre, artist, title, album, lyrics, date of release, orthe like (step 412). The recommendation engine 24′ then automaticallyselects a next song to play from the songs identified by therecommendations received from the other peer devices 14′-16′, optionallysongs identified by previously received recommendations from the peerdevices 14′-16′, and one or more songs from the music collection 26′based on user preferences (step 414). In the preferred embodimentdiscussed below, the songs identified by the recommendations from theother peer devices 14′-16′ and the songs from the music collection 26′are scored based on the user preferences. Then, based on the scores, therecommendation engine 24′ selects the next song to play.

Once the next song to play is selected, the peer device 12′ obtains theselected song (step 416). If the selected song is part of the musiccollection 26′, the peer device 12′ obtains the selected song from themusic collection 26′. If the selected song is not part of the musiccollection 26′, the recommendation engine 24′ obtains the selected songfrom the subscription music service 18, an e-commerce service, or one ofthe other peer devices 14′-16′. For example, the selected song may beobtained from a source identified in the recommendation for the song.Once obtained, the selected song is played and a recommendation for thesong is provided to the other peer devices 14′-16′ via the proxy server40 (steps 418-426).

FIG. 6 illustrates the process of automatically selecting a song to playfrom the received recommendations and locally stored songs at the peerdevice 12′ according to one embodiment of the present invention.However, the following discussion is equally applicable to the peerdevices 12-16 of FIG. 1, as well as the other peer devices 14′-16′ ofFIG. 4. First, the user preferences for the user of the peer device 12′are obtained (step 500). The user preferences may include a weight orpriority assigned to each of a number of categories such as, but notlimited to, user, genre, decade of release, and availability. The userpreferences may be obtained from the user during an initialconfiguration of the recommendation engine 24′. In addition, the userpreferences may be updated by the user as desired. The user preferencesmay alternatively be suggested by the recommendation engine 24′ or theproxy server 40 based on a play history of the peer device 12′. Notethat that proxy server 40 may ascertain the play history of the peerdevice 12′ by monitoring the recommendations from the peer device 12′ asthe recommendations pass through the proxy server 40 on their way to theother peer devices 14′-16′. The user preferences may be stored locallyat the peer device 12′ or obtained from a central server, such as theproxy server 40, via the network 20.

Once recommendations are received from the other peer devices 14′-16′,the recommendation engine 24′ of the peer device 12′ scores the songsidentified by the recommendations based on the user preferences (step502). The recommendation engine 24′ also scores one or more local songsfrom the music collection 26′ (step 504). The recommendation engine 24′then selects the next song to play based, at least on part, on thescores of the recommended and local songs (step 506).

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary graphical user interface (GUI) 42 forconfiguring user preferences using a plurality of selectors. First, theuser assigns a weight to various categories. In this example, thecategories are users, genre, decade, and availability. However, thepresent invention is not limited thereto. The weights for the categoriesmay be assigned alphabetically by selecting radio button 44, customizedby the user by selecting radio button 46, or automatically suggestedbased on a user profile of the user by selecting radio button 48. Ifalphabetical weighting is selected, the weights are assigned byalphabetically sorting the categories and assigning a weight to each ofthe categories based on its position in the alphabetically sorted listof categories. As illustrated in FIG. 8, if customized weighting isselected, the user may be presented with a GUI 50 for customizing theweighting of the categories. As illustrated in the exemplary embodimentof FIG. 8, the weights of the categories may be assigned by adjustingcorresponding sliding bars 52-58. Sliding bar 60 may be adjusted toassign a weight to a “no repeat factor.” The no repeat factor is adampening factor used to alter a song's score based on when the song waspreviously played at the peer device 12′ in order to prevent the samesong from being continually repeated.

Once the weights are assigned, the user may select an OK button 62 toreturn to the GUI 42 of FIG. 7 or select a REVERT button 64 to returnthe weights of the categories to their previous settings. In addition,the user may select a SUGGEST FROM PROFILE button 66 to have therecommendation engine 24′ or the proxy server 40 suggest weights for thecategories based on a user profile. Note that the button 66 has the sameeffect as the radio button 48 of FIG. 7.

Returning to FIG. 7, radio buttons 68-72 are used to select a desiredmethod for assigning weights to each user in the P2P network, radiobuttons 74-78 are used to select a desired method for assigning weightsto each of a number of genres of music, radio buttons 80-84 are used toselect the desired method for assigning weights to each of a number ofdecades, and radio buttons 86-90 are used to select the desired methodfor assigning weights to a number of song availability types.

Regarding users, if the radio button 68 is selected, the users areassigned weights based on their respective positions in analphabetically sorted list of users. If the radio button 70 is selected,a GUI 92 (FIG. 9) enabling the user to customize the weights assigned toa number of users from which recommendations are received. An exemplaryembodiment of the GUI 92 is illustrated in FIG. 9, where sliding bars94-98 enable the user to assign customized weights to correspondingusers. Returning to FIG. 7, if the radio button 72 is selected, therecommendation engine 24′ or the proxy server 40 generates suggestedweights for the users based on a user profile associated with the peerdevice 12′.

Regarding genres, if the radio button 74 is selected, the genres areassigned weights based on their respective positions in analphabetically sorted list of genres. If the radio button 76 isselected, a GUI 100 (FIG. 10) enabling the user to customize the weightsassigned to a number of genres. An exemplary embodiment of the GUI 100is illustrated in FIG. 10, where sliding bars 102-116 enable the user toassign customized weights to corresponding genres. Returning to FIG. 7,if the radio button 78 is selected, the recommendation engine 24′ or theproxy server 40 generates suggested weights for the genres based on auser profile associated with the peer device 12′.

Regarding decades, if the radio button 80 is selected, the decades areassigned weights based on their respective positions in achronologically sorted list of decades. If the radio button 82 isselected, a GUI 118 (FIG. 11) enabling the user to customize the weightsassigned to a number of decades. An exemplary embodiment of the GUI 118is illustrated in FIG. 11, where sliding bars 120-130 enable the user toassign customized weights to corresponding decades. Returning to FIG. 7,if the radio button 84 is selected, the recommendation engine 24′ or theproxy server 40 generates suggested weights for the decades based on auser profile associated with the peer device 12′.

Regarding availability, if the radio button 86 is selected, theavailability types are assigned weights based on their respectivepositions in an alphabetically sorted list of availability types. If theradio button 88 is selected, a GUI 132 (FIG. 12) enabling the user tocustomize the weights assigned to a number of availability types. Anexemplary embodiment of the GUI 132 is illustrated in FIG. 12, wheresliding bars 134-140 enable the user to assign customized weights tocorresponding availability types. Returning to FIG. 7, if the radiobutton 90 is selected, the recommendation engine 24′ or the proxy server40 generates suggested weights for the availability types based on auser profile associated with the peer device 12′.

An exemplary equation for scoring a particular song is:Score=NRF·(WU·WUA+WG·WGA+WD·WDA+WA·WAA)·100,where NRF is the “no repeat factor”; WU is the weight assigned to theuser category; WUA is the weight assigned to the user attribute of thesong, which is the user recommending the song; WG is the weight assignedto the genre category; WGA is the weight assigned to the genre attributeof the song, which is the genre of the song; WD is the weight assignedto the decade category; WDA is the weight assigned to the decadeattribute of the song, which is the decade in which the song or thealbum associated with the song was released; WA is the weight assignedto the availability category; and WAA is the weight assigned to theavailability attribute of the song, which is the availability of thesong.

The NRF may, for example, be computed as:

${NRF} = {\frac{{MIN}\left( {{10 \cdot {NRFW}},{LASTREPEAT\_ INDEX}} \right)}{10 \cdot {NRFW}}.}$

As an example, assume that the following category weights have beenassigned:

User Category 1 Genre Category 7 Decade Category 7 Availability TypeCategory 5 NRFW 9Further assume that the attributes for the categories have been assignedweights as follows:

User Genre Decade Availability User A 5 Alternative 8 1950s 2 Local 8User B 5 Classic Rock 5 1960s 4 Subscription Network 2 User C 5 ArenaRock 5 1970s 7 Buy/Download 1 Jazz 5 1980s 9 Find 1 New Wave 2 1990s 5Punk 4 2000s 5 Dance 2 Country 2Thus, if a particular song to be scored is recommended by the user “UserC,” is from the “Alternative Genre,” is from the “1980s” decade, and isavailable from the subscription music service 18, the score of the songmay be computed as:

${Score} = {{NRF} \cdot \left( {{\frac{1}{20} \cdot \frac{5}{10}} + {\frac{7}{20} \cdot \frac{8}{10}} + {\frac{7}{20} \cdot \frac{9}{10}} + {\frac{5}{20} \cdot \frac{2}{10}}} \right) \cdot 100}$where if the song was last played 88 songs ago,

${NRF} = {\frac{{MIN}\left( {{10 \cdot 9},88} \right)}{10 \cdot 9} = {\frac{88}{90}.}}$Thus, the score for the song is

${Score} = {{\frac{88}{90} \cdot \left( {{\frac{1}{20} \cdot \frac{5}{10}} + {\frac{7}{20} \cdot \frac{8}{10}} + {\frac{7}{20} \cdot \frac{9}{10}} + {\frac{5}{20} \cdot \frac{2}{10}}} \right) \cdot 100} = {65.5.}}$

The present invention provides GUIs to allow the user to navigatethrough and sort his or her media item collection containing the mediaitem recommendations based on a preference scoring system describedabove.

FIG. 13 is an exemplary GUI 142 showing a playlist for the peer device12′ including both local and recommended songs according to the presentinvention. However, note that a similar list may be maintainedinternally by the peer device 12 of FIG. 1 and potentially optimized todisplay at least a portion of the GUI 142 on the display of the peerdevice 12. In this example, both the local and recommended songs arescored, as described above, and sorted according to their scores. Inaddition, as illustrated in FIG. 14, the songs may be sorted based onanother criterion, which in the illustrated example is genre, and score.

The GUI 142 may optionally allow the user to block songs havingparticular identified fields. In the examples of FIGS. 13 and 14, theuser has identified the genre “country” and the artist “iron maiden” asfields to be blocked, as illustrated by the underlining. The user mayselect fields to block by, for example, clicking on or otherwiseselecting the desired fields. Songs having the blocked fields are stillscored but are not obtained or played by the peer device 12′.

Referring to FIGS. 13 and 14, in one embodiment, the GUI 142 may displaythe identity of the user 163 of the peer device 12′ in the upper rightcorner. The playlist on the GUI 142 may be displayed utilizing onecolumn or a plurality of columns of information concerning the mediaitems on the playlist. FIGS. 13 and 14 show eight columns 164-178, eachcolumn having a descriptive heading for the information displayed in thecolumn. The GUI 142 includes a user column 164, a song column 166, anartist column 168, a genre column 170, a decade column 172, a timecolumn 174, an availability column 176, and a score column 178. Theinformation in the columns may be organized in rows with the informationin each row aligned to the related media items displayed in the songcolumn 166.

The user column 164 displays a list of users who have subscribed to theclient application. The users displayed in the user column 164 may bethe user and/or peers or friends of the user. Individual users mayappear more than once in the user column 164 based on the number ofrecommendations from the user, with respect to the peers or friends ofthe user, and/or based on the number of media items stored locally inpeer device 12′, with respect to the user. The song column 166 is a listof media item titles for the media items recommended by the users andthe media items stored locally in peer device 12′. Although the songcolumn 166 in FIGS. 13 and 14 lists songs, it should be understood thatany media items, such as movies and television shows, may be listed, andthe present invention should not be limited to just songs. Optionally,the song column 166 may also be referred to and have a descriptiveheading of “Title” column. Also, the media items that are stored locallyin peer device 12′ are interleaved with the media items that arerecommendations from a friend or peer of the user.

The artist column 168 displays a list of the names of the artistsassociated with the particular media item. The genre column 170 displaysa list of the genre categories in which the media items may be defined.The decade column 172 displays a list of the beginning year of thedecade in which the media item was released. Optionally, the decadecolumn 172 may be a “Year” column with the actual year of the release ofthe media item displayed. The time column 174 displays the time sincethat particular media item was played by the associated user in the usercolumn 164. The availability column 176 comprises information regardingthe location of the media items, as discussed above. The score column178 displays the score for the associated media item, which may bedetermined using the user preference information as discussed in detailabove.

The media items displayed in the song column 166 are sorted in an orderdepending on the media item's score, which is displayed in the scorecolumn 178 from the highest score to the lowest score. FIG. 13 shows“Sweet Emotion” positioned first in the score column 178 with thehighest score of “95” and “Something More” positioned last in scorecolumn 178 with the lowest score of “25.” Optionally, the user may electto have the scores displayed in the score column 178 in reverse order,having the lowest score displayed at the top and the highest scoredisplayed at the bottom. The user may elect to have the scores displayedin reverse order by clicking on the descriptive heading of the scorecolumn 178. If a new recommendation is received by the peer device 12′and/or a new media item is stored locally in the peer device 12′, theplaylist is re-sorted, if necessary, to maintain the order based on thescore.

The user may sort the playlist based on several different criteria. Thesorting criteria may include, for example, user, title, artist, genre,year of release, and availability. The user may sort the playlistaccording to the criterion by selecting the column associated with thecriterion. The user may select the column for sorting by clicking on thedescriptive header for that column. For example, if the user elects tosort the playlist by title, the user may click on the descriptiveheading for the song column 166, and the media items displayed on theplaylist are displayed in an order based on an alphabetical listing ofthe titles of the media items. If the user selects the artist column168, the media items are displayed in an order based on an alphabeticallisting of the artists. If an artist has more than one media item on theplaylist, the media items for that artist are displayed according to themedia item score in descending order.

If the user selects another column, for example, the genre column 170,the media items in the playlist are sorted according to genre in adescending order with the media items defined as being in the user'smost preferred genre category positioned at the top of the displayedplaylist, and the media items defined as being in the user's leastpreferred genre category at the bottom of the displayed playlist. Ifthere is more than one media item within a genre, the media items withinthe genre are sorted by the media item's score in descending order.

An example of the playlist sorted by the genre criterion is shown inFIG. 14. The media items are shown sorted according to genre categoriesaccording to score. An alternative genre 180 is shown as the mostpreferred and a country genre 182 is shown as the least preferred withmedia items positioned in an order within each particular genre categorybased on the score. For example, in the alternative genre 180 category,four media items are listed in descending order according to theirscore. “Dance In My Sleep” with a score of “92” is displayed first inthe alternative genre 180 category and “Alison” with a score of “65” isdisplayed last in the ‘alternative’ genre 180 category, which is thefourth position on the playlist. The playlist may be similarly sortedbased on any of the columns 164-176 by clicking on the descriptiveheader for that column. By selecting the score column 178 again, thegenre sorting criterion is removed and the playlist is sorted accordingto score as shown on FIG. 13.

The media items may be displayed on the playlist in the order in whichthe media items are played. A play order of the media items depends onand follows the order in which the media items are positioned on theplaylist. For example, in FIG. 13, “Sweet Emotion” is positioned firston the playlist and, therefore, is played first with the other songsplayed in the order they are positioned in the song column. The mediaitem in the last position, “Something More,” is played last. Similarly,in FIG. 14, “Dance In My Sleep,” the media item in the first position,is played first and “Something More” is played last. If the user changesthe sorting of the playlist, as discussed above, the play order of themedia items also changes to follow the manner in which the media itemsare positioned on the playlist based on the changed sorting. Also, asdiscussed above, if a new recommendation is received by the peer device12′ and/or a new media item is stored locally in the peer device 12′,the playlist is re-sorted, if necessary, to maintain the order based onthe score and the user's sorting criterion, and, therefore, the playorder may also change.

In one embodiment, the user may choose the number of recommendationsthat are displayed on the playlist. The user may do this by setting themaximum number of recommendations in a recommendation queue. FIG. 15illustrates a GUI 184 with a selector 185. The selector may be a slidingbar 185. The user may select the maximum number of recommendations inthe queue by positioning the “Max Media Items in Recommendation Queue”sliding bar 185. For purposes of describing the present invention, FIG.17 illustrates a range of settings for the “Max Media Items inRecommendation Queue” sliding bar 185 of “50” to “unlimited.” However,it is understood that any number of recommendations may be selected andthe present invention should not be limited to the numbers illustratedon FIG. 15.

Optionally, the GUI 184 may include a “Remove Media Items Based On”plurality of selectors 186. The “Remove Media Items Based On” selector186 allows the user to select the basis on which recommendations areremoved from the playlist. FIG. 15 illustrates three bases on which toremove recommendations: by “Score,” by “Timestamp,” and by “CurrentSort.” If the user selects “Score,” the number of recommendationsselected with the highest scores are retained and other recommendationsare removed from the playlist. For example, if the user sets the “MaxMedia Items in Recommendation Queue” sliding bar 185 to “50,” the fiftyrecommendations with the best score are retained and the rest of therecommendations are removed from the playlist. Similarly, with respectto this example, if the user selects “Timestamp,” the fifty newestreceived recommendations are retained and the recommendations that havebeen on the playlist longer are removed. Also, if the user selects“Current Sort,” the fifty recommendations based on the user's selectedsorting criterion are retained and the rest of the recommendations areremoved.

In one embodiment, the recommendation engine 24′ of the peer device 12′may provide a download queue containing all songs to be downloaded, andoptionally purchased, from an external source such as the subscriptionmusic service 18, an e-commerce service, or another peer device 14′-16′.Songs in the download queue having scores above a first predetermined oruser defined threshold and previews of other songs in the download queuehaving scores above a second predetermined or user defined threshold butbelow the first threshold may be automatically downloaded to the peerdevice 12′.

FIG. 16 illustrates an exemplary GUI 187 for the user to provideuser-defined thresholds for the download queue. The GUI 187 provides aplurality of selectors, which may be sliding bars, for the user to useto establish the thresholds utilizing an “Auto-download Media Item WhenScore Is Above” sliding bar 188 and “Auto-download Preview When MediaItem Is Above” sliding bar 189. The user selects the threshold value bymanipulating one or both of the sliding bars.

Also included on the GUI 187 may be a “Flush On Rescoring” selector 190,a “Max Download Sessions” sliding bar 191, a “Max Download Attempts”sliding bar 192, a “Retry Interval” sliding bar 193, and an “Omit MediaItems With Block Fields From Download” selector 194. If the useractuates the “Flush On Rescoring” selector 190, the songs are deletedfrom the download queue if the user re-sorts the playlist based on acriterion. The “Max Download Sessions” sliding bar 191 allows the userto select the maximum number of sockets for downloading songs to thepeer device 12′. The “Max Download Attempts” sliding bar 192 and the“Retry Interval” sliding bar 193 allow the user to control the number ofretry attempts to download songs and the time interval between the retryattempts, respectively. The “Omit Media Items With Block Fields FromDownload” selector 194 allows the user to designate media items on themedia item playlist to be omitted from the download queue as discussedin detail above.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of the peer device12 of FIG. 1. However, the following discussion is equally applicable tothe other peer devices 14, 16. In general, the peer device 12 includes acontrol system 144 having associated memory 146. In this example, themusic player 22 and the recommendation engine 24 are at least partiallyimplemented in software and stored in the memory 146. The peer device 12also includes a storage unit 148 operating to store the music collection26 (FIG. 1). The storage unit 148 may be any number of digital storagedevices such as, for example, one or more hard-disc drives, one or morememory cards, RAM, one or more external digital storage devices, or thelike. The music collection 26 may alternatively be stored in the memory146. The peer device 12 also includes a communication interface 150. Thecommunication interface 150 includes a local wireless communicationinterface for establishing the P2P network with the other peer devices14, 16. The local wireless interface may operate according to, forexample, one of the suite of IEEE 802.11 standards, the Bluetoothstandard, or the like. The communication interface 150 may also includea network interface communicatively coupling the peer device 12 to thenetwork 20 (FIG. 1). The peer device 12 also includes a user interface152, which may include components such as a display, speakers, a userinput device, and the like.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of the peer device12′ of FIG. 4. However, the following discussion is equally applicableto the other peer devices 14′-16′. In general, the peer device 12′includes a control system 154 having associated memory 156. In thisexample, the music player 22′ and the recommendation engine 24′ are atleast partially implemented in software and stored in the memory 156.The peer device 12′ also includes a storage unit 158 operating to storethe music collection 26′ (FIG. 4). The storage unit 158 may be anynumber of digital storage devices such as, for example, one or morehard-disc drives, one or more memory cards, RAM, one or more externaldigital storage devices, or the like. The music collection 26′ mayalternatively be stored in the memory 156. The peer device 12′ alsoincludes a communication interface 160. The communication interface 160includes a network interface communicatively coupling the peer device12′ to the network 20 (FIG. 4). The peer device 12′ also includes a userinterface 162, which may include components such as a display, speakers,a user input device, and the like.

The present invention provides substantial opportunity for variationwithout departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention. Forexample, while FIG. 1 illustrates the peer devices 12-16 forming the P2Pnetwork via local wireless communication and FIG. 4 illustrates the peerdevices 12′-16′ forming the P2P network via the network 20, the presentinvention is not limited to either a local wireless P2P network or a WANP2P network in the alternative. More specifically, a particular peerdevice, such as the peer device 12, may form a P2P network with otherpeer devices using both local wireless communication and the network 20.Thus, for example, the peer device 12 may receive recommendations fromboth the peer devices 14, 16 (FIG. 1) via local wireless communicationand from the peer devices 14′-16′ (FIG. 4) via the network 20.

As another example, while the discussion herein focuses on songrecommendations, the present invention is not limited thereto. Thepresent invention is equally applicable to recommendations for othertypes of media presentations such as video presentations. Thus, thepresent invention may additionally or alternatively provide movierecommendations, television program recommendations, or the like.

Those skilled in the art will recognize improvements and modificationsto the preferred embodiments of the present invention. All suchimprovements and modifications are considered within the scope of theconcepts disclosed herein and the claims that follow.

What is claimed is:
 1. A user device comprising: a processor; a controlsystem component associated with the processor, the control systemcomponent adapted to: receive information identifying a media item and afriend of a plurality of friends, wherein the information is provided asa result of playing the media item on a second user device associatedwith the friend of the plurality of friends; present informationcomprising: information identifying the media item selected for play onthe second user device and the friend associated with the second userdevice; and information identifying a plurality of other media items anda subset of the plurality of friends, wherein play of the other mediaitems was initiated on a corresponding plurality of other user devicesassociated with the subset of the plurality of friends; obtain aselection of a second media item for play; obtain the second media item;initiate play of the second media item; and provide, as a result ofplaying the second media item, information identifying the second mediaitem and the user for sharing with the plurality of friends of the user.2. The user device of claim 1 wherein the control system component isfurther adapted to: obtain user information identifying a userassociated with the user device; and obtain friend informationidentifying the plurality of friends of the user.
 3. The user device ofclaim 2 wherein in order to obtain the friend information identifyingthe plurality of friends of the user based on the user informationidentifying the user the control system component is further adapted to:request the friend information identifying the plurality of friends froma social network; and receive the friend information identifying theplurality of friends from the social network.
 4. The user device ofclaim 1 wherein in order to obtain, by the user device, the second mediaitem the control system component is further adapted to: automaticallydetermine the media item is not stored locally on the user device; andobtain in response to determining the media item is not stored locallyon the user device, the media item.
 5. The user device of claim 4wherein the control system component is further adapted to: obtain aselection of the media item for play; and wherein determining the mediaitem is not stored locally on the user device is determined in responseto obtaining the selection.
 6. The user device of claim 1 wherein inorder to present, by the user device, the information the control systemcomponent is further adapted to: automatically add the media item to apre-existing list of media items, to provide an updated list of mediaitems; and display the updated list of media items.
 7. The user deviceof claim 6 wherein the pre-existing list of media items comprises atleast one media item from a local media collection.
 8. The user deviceof claim 6 wherein the pre-existing list of media items comprises theplurality of other media items, wherein the other media items existedprior to receiving the information identifying the media item and thefriend of the plurality of friends.
 9. The user device of claim 1wherein the control system component is further adapted to: store themedia item, in response to obtaining the media item.
 10. The user deviceof claim 1 wherein in order to obtain the media item the control systemis further adapted to stream the media item.
 11. The user device ofclaim 10 wherein in order to stream the media item the control systemcomponent is further adapted to stream the media item from the seconduser device.
 12. The user device of claim 10 wherein in order to streamthe media item the control system component is further adapted to streamthe media item from a server.
 13. The user device of claim 12 whereinthe server comprises at least one of a music service server and a proxyserver.
 14. The user device of claim 1 wherein in order to obtain themedia item the control system component is further adapted to downloadat least a portion of the media item.
 15. The user device of claim 14wherein in order to download the at least a portion of the media itemthe control system component is further adapted to download the at leasta portion of the media item from the second user device.
 16. The userdevice of claim 14 wherein in order to download the at least a portionof the media item the control system component is further adapted todownload the at least a portion of the media item from a server.
 17. Theuser device of claim 16 wherein the server comprises at least one of amusic service server and a proxy server.
 18. The user device of claim 14wherein in order to download the at least a portion of the media itemthe control system component is further adapted to download a completeversion of the media item.
 19. The user device of claim 1 whereininformation identifying a media item and a friend of the plurality offriends is provided as a result of playing the media item on a seconduser device associated with the friend of the plurality of friendsfurther comprises a timestamp indicating a time at which the media itemwas played on the second user device.
 20. The user device of claim 1wherein the information identifying a media item comprises a URL. 21.The user device of claim 1 wherein the friend comprises an other user ofan other user device that is connected to the user through a socialnetwork.
 22. The user device of claim 1 wherein the informationidentifying a user is a name of the user.
 23. A user device comprising:a processor; a control system component associated with the processor,the control system adapted to: receive information identifying a mediaitem and a friend of a plurality of friends, wherein the information isprovided as a result of playing the media item on a second user deviceassociated with the friend of the plurality of friends; presentinformation comprising: information identifying the media item selectedfor play on the second user device and the friend associated with thesecond user device; information identifying a plurality of other mediaitems and a subset of the plurality of friends, wherein play of theother media items was initiated on a corresponding plurality of otheruser devices associated with the subset of the plurality of friends;obtain the media item from a remote source; initiate play of the mediaitem; and provide as a result of playing the media item, informationidentifying the media item and the user for sharing with the pluralityof friends of the user.
 24. The user device of claim 23 wherein thecontrol system component is further adapted to: obtain informationidentifying a user associated with the user device; obtain informationidentifying a plurality of friends of the user, the user and theplurality of friends being connected through a social network; determinethe media item is not stored locally on the user device; and obtain inresponse to determining the media item is not stored locally on the userdevice, the media item.
 25. The user device of claim 24 wherein thecontrol system component is further adapted to: score the media itembased on user preferences; automatically select the media item to playfrom an updated list of media items based on scores assigned to themedia items in the updated list of media items; and play the selectedmedia item on the user device.
 26. The user device of claim 25 whereinthe user preferences comprise weights assigned to a plurality ofcategories and scoring the media item is based on the weights assignedto the plurality of categories.
 27. The user device of claim 26 whereinthe plurality of categories comprises at least one of genre, decade, andavailability categories.
 28. The user device of claim 25 wherein thecontrol system component is further adapted to: obtain the userpreferences from the user.
 29. The user device of claim 25 wherein thecontrol system component is further adapted to: automatically generatethe user preferences based on an associated play history.
 30. A userdevice comprising: a processor; a control system component associatedwith the processor, the control system adapted to: receive informationidentifying a media item and a friend of a plurality of friends, whereinthe information is provided in response to playing the media item on asecond user device associated with the friend of the plurality offriends; present information identifying the media item selected forplay on the second user device and the friend associated with the seconduser device; display information identifying a plurality of other mediaitems; display information identifying a source of each of the pluralityof other media items; initiate play of the media item; and provide inresponse to playing the media item, information identifying the mediaitem and the user for sharing with the plurality of friends of the user.31. The user device of claim 30 wherein the control system component isfurther adapted to: obtain information identifying a user associatedwith the user device; obtain information identifying a plurality offriends of the user based on the information identifying the user;automatically determine the media item is not stored locally on the userdevice; and obtain in response to determining the media item is notstored locally on the user device, the media item.
 32. A user devicecomprising: a processor; a control system component associated with theprocessor, the control system adapted to: receive informationidentifying a media item and a friend of a plurality of friends, whereinthe information is provided as a result of playing the media item on asecond user device associated with the friend of the plurality offriends; automatically add the media item to a pre-existing list ofmedia items, to provide an updated list of media items; presentinformation derived from the updated list of media items comprising:information identifying the media item selected for play on the seconduser device and the friend associated with the second user device;information identifying a plurality of other media items and a subset ofthe plurality of friends, wherein play of the other media items wasinitiated on a corresponding plurality of other user devices associatedwith the subset of the plurality of friends; and wherein thepre-existing list of media items is a list of media items existing priorto receiving the information identifying a media item and a friend ofthe plurality of friends, wherein the information is provided as aresult of playing the media item on a second user device associated withthe friend of the plurality of friends.
 33. The user device of claim 32wherein the control system component is further adapted to: obtain aselection of a second media item for play; obtain the second media item;initiate play of the second media item; and provide as a result ofplaying the second media item, information identifying the second mediaitem and the user for sharing with the plurality of friends of the user.34. A user device comprising: a processor; a control system componentassociated with the processor, the control system adapted to: receiveinformation identifying a media item, a friend of a plurality offriends, and a timestamp, wherein the information is provided as aresult of the media item having been played at a time of play indicatedby the timestamp on a second user device associated with the friend ofthe plurality of friends; present information comprising: informationidentifying the media item selected for play on the second user device,the friend associated with the second user device, and informationindicating the time of play of the media item; and informationidentifying a plurality of other media items and a subset of theplurality of friends wherein play of the other media items was initiatedon a corresponding plurality of other user devices associated with thesubset of the plurality of friends, and wherein at least one of theplurality of other media items is displayed with information indicatingan other time of play derived from a timestamp of the at least one ofthe plurality of other media items at a corresponding other user device.35. The user device of claim 34 wherein the control system component isfurther adapted to: obtain a selection of a second media item for play;obtain the second media item; initiate play of the second media item ata second time; and provide as a result of playing the second media item,information identifying the second media item, a corresponding secondmedia item timestamp, and the user for sharing with the plurality offriends of the user.
 36. A system for distributing music comprising: auser device having a processor and a control system component associatedwith the processor, the user device adapted to: obtain informationidentifying a user associated with the user device; obtain informationidentifying a plurality of friends of the user based on the informationidentifying the user; receive information identifying a media item and afriend of the plurality of friends, wherein the information is providedin response to playing the media item on a second user device associatedwith the friend of the plurality of friends; present informationcomprising: information identifying the media item selected for play onthe second user device and the friend associated with the second userdevice; information identifying a plurality of other media items and asubset of the plurality of friends, wherein play of the other mediaitems was initiated on a corresponding plurality of other user devicesassociated with the subset of the plurality of friends; obtain aselection of a second media item for play; request the second media itemfrom a server; provide in response to playing the second media item,information identifying the second media item and the user for sharingwith the plurality of friends of the user, and a server having aprocessor, the server adapted to: provide a subscription based musicservice to the user device and the second user device; facilitatecommunication between the user device and the second user device; andprovide the second media item to the user device in response toreceiving the request.
 37. A user device comprising: a processor; acontrol system component associated with the processor, the controlsystem adapted to: receive information identifying: a plurality of mediaitems; times at which the plurality of media items were played at userdevices of friends of a plurality of friends; and users of a pluralityof user devices at which the plurality of media items were played; andfor ones of the plurality of media items, display by the user device,information identifying: the media item; the time at which the mediaitem was played at the user devices of the friends of the plurality offriends; the user of the plurality of user devices at which the mediaitem was played; and a source of the media item.
 38. The user device ofclaim 37 wherein the control system component is further adapted to:obtain a selection of a second media item for play; obtain the secondmedia item; initiate play of the second media item; and provide as aresult of playing the second media item, information identifying thesecond media item and the user for sharing with the plurality of friendsof the user.
 39. The user device of claim 37 wherein the source of themedia item is local.
 40. The user device of claim 37 wherein the sourceof the media item is a remote source.
 41. The user device of claim 40wherein the remote source is a server operated by a music subscriptionservice.
 42. The user device of claim 40 wherein the remote source is aserver operated by a music download service.